The world is accustomed to a one-dimensional caricature of Israel, painted endlessly by its critics: a militarized state driven only by force, indifferent to morality or human rights. Yet in a stunning development, Israel’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that shattered this simplistic narrative.
On September 7, the High Court of Justice determined the state had failed in its basic duty to provide adequate food to Palestinian detainees. In a war-torn country, facing daily threats and still grieving the scars of October 7, Israel’s justices stood firm and declared that even those accused of terrorism retain the fundamental right to survival. In so doing, Israel revealed something the world rarely acknowledges: that it remains a nation anchored in law, democracy, and an unrelenting moral struggle.
The case came to the court through petitions by human rights organizations that had collected chilling testimonies from detainees and their families. Men released from custody described “constant and extreme hunger,” losing more than 20 kilograms in a matter of months. Military reports, some classified, admitted there were real doubts about whether prisoners were receiving sufficient nutrition.
Far from dismissing them as irrelevant in wartime, Israel’s Supreme Court gave them serious weight. Justice Daphne Barak-Erez wrote with unmistakable clarity: “We are not speaking here of comfortable living or luxury, but of the basic conditions of survival as required by law.” She reminded the nation that Israel is a state of law, and that even the most despised prisoner cannot be starved into submission.
Lessons for Everyone Else
There is a profound lesson here for the world. At a time when authoritarian regimes across the Middle East crush dissent without mercy, when terror groups use civilians as human shields, Israel is wrestling with itself, publicly, in the open, through its institutions. No one forced this ruling. No international tribunal compelled it. No foreign power demanded it. Israel’s own citizens, lawyers, and justices ensured it happened. In the middle of an ongoing war, Israel’s judiciary told its government, “The law still applies, and our values must remain intact.” This is not weakness—it is strength.
Critics abroad often paint Israel as an oppressor that acts with impunity. But what other nation under siege allows its courts to openly contradict wartime policy? What other democracy faced with thousands of enemy combatants dares to rule in favor of those same prisoners? In truth, Israel has shown the opposite of what its detractors claim. By holding itself accountable, even to the point of discomfort, Israel has proven that it remains committed to the universal values its enemies seek to destroy.
This ruling also undermines one of the most powerful lies spread against Israel: the idea that it is a monolith of oppression. The reality is more complicated and, ultimately, more admirable. Israeli society is a loud, messy, and often painful argument with itself. Politicians rage against judges. Rights organizations challenge security policies. Journalists scrutinize the state’s every move. And in the end, the courts enforce standards that many governments in the region wouldn’t dream of considering. That is what democracy looks like. That is what rule of law means. And that is what makes Israel so different from the tyrannies surrounding it.
It is easy for outsiders to condemn, to chant slogans that require no nuance, no history, no moral reflection. But those who genuinely care about justice should take note of what happened in Jerusalem this week. A country grieving from terror, holding hostages in its heart, still insisted on the dignity of its enemies. This does not make Israel perfect. It makes Israel profoundly human, wrestling with the eternal tension between survival and morality, and still choosing law.
The lesson extends far beyond Israel. Democracies everywhere should study this example. Upholding human rights when it is easy means little. Upholding them when it is hardest, when the enemy has massacred your people and threatens your existence, is what gives those rights meaning. Israel’s Supreme Court has reminded the world that the strength of a nation is not only measured on the battlefield but also in its ability to restrain itself. That restraint, born of conscience and law, is precisely what separates civilization from barbarism.
Amine Ayoub is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco.
